X-Ray and Vav
"X-Ray and Vav want to be the greatest super heroes ever, but they're the last people you'd want to be saved by. Despite their lack of superhero prowess, the duo is ready to take on any thug, robber or villain who stands in the way of justice. And they'll do it in true X-Ray and Vav fashion; crotch touching and creating chaos to save the day (for the most part)!" - Official website and YouTube playlist "X-Ray and Vav fight crime to keep the city safe with their new powers." - IMDb "They’re best of buds, they prowl the night; As super studs, they fight for good; They’re awesome guys, who kick crime in the butt! X-Ray and Vaaav! He's a popular guy, a parkour master, And might know some Kung fu.... X-RAY AND VAAAV!!!! He's delightfully British, a hero for justice, And cares how you feel! X-Ra-ay and Vav" - Main Theme Song X-Ray and Vav was a 2D animated cartoon TV series created by Rooster Teeth Productions with the first episode released with it's Debut Date on November 27, 2014 and the Finale Episode Date on October 18, 2015. The series surrounds, revolves around and focuses on the adventures of the two wannabe titular superheroes named X-Ray and Vav, also known as the "dorktastic duo", who are in turn based on the team and the fictional alter egos of formed by Ray Narvaez, Jr. and Gavin Free from Achievement Hunter (who also provide their voices), with their names originating from the Halo 4 - Terminus Achievement Guide. The animated series was created and directed by Jordan Cwierz, creator of the Rooster Teeth Animated Adventures, and and Lindsay Jones, with Patrick Rodriguez acting as the art director and Gray G. Haddock as the producer. The show was first announced at RTX 2014.http://roosterteeth.com/members/journal/entry.php?id=3227026 A short teaser trailer for the series, displaying its logo, was shown at the end of RWBY Volume 2's eighth episode.http://roosterteeth.com/archive/?id=9728 A full teaser showcasing its animation was aired alongside the nineteenth episode of Red vs. Blue: Season 12 and ninth episode of RWBY Volume 2.http://roosterteeth.com/archive/?id=9743 The first episode premiered at the 2014 New York Comic-Con. The trailer for the second season was shown at the 2015 San Diego Comic-Con, being uploaded shortly after. There are currently still no plans for a third season, and the show has not been referenced, mentioned, updated or worked on at all ever since its Season 2 conclusion by Rooster Teeth. When asked by a fan if he would return for a third season if asked, Narvaez stated he wouldn't come back to do it anymore and reprise his main character for another third season (Season 3) and that he wouldn't be involved anymore because he was "very happy with how it ended". Because the series is cancelled and is no longer still in production, the production, direction and animation staff behind the show have moved over to switch their focus on other Rooster Teeth shows and projects on Rooster Teeth's "Summer of Animation" fun and top priority list, including RWBY, RWBY Chibi, Red vs Blue Season 14, and a brand new 2D animation show, X-Ray and Vav's spiritual successor/replacement, called Camp Camp. Synopsis X-Ray (Ray Narvaez, Jr.) and Vav (Gavin Free) are your typical heroic duo, who are just trying to make the world a better place - the only problem is that they're failing miserably, unable to do the most menial 'superhero' tasks and getting no respect from the general public. However, after a failed robbery attempt and a run-in with a super-intelligent engineer named Hilda (Lindsay Jones) and Orf (Barbara Dunkleman), the duo are given the opportunity to become the greatest superheroes of all time... if they don't destroy the city in the process. History and creation Possibly the oddest story of a flub in an achievement guide starring two staff members who worked at Achievement Hunter that went from a meme/joke, to shirts, to a Rooster Teeth Animated Adventures-type show, to a full-on animated cartoon. The show X-Ray & Vav’s origin story traces it's origins to a Halo 4 achievement guide created by the pair for Achievement Hunter. It can be found in the Halo 4 – Terminus Achievement Guide video with Ray & Gavin. In the video, Ray mispronounces Gavin's name as "Vav" and later Gavin asks Ray, "Do people ever call you 'X-Ray'?". In subsequent achievement guides, the pair would begin to stay "in-character" as their superhero alter-egos, X-Ray and Vav, and make reference to them in other videos. The characters became incredibly popular with the Rooster Teeth community, spawning official merchandise, fan art, and cosplays. At RTX 2013, Gavin and Ray, themselves, cosplayed as the characters. Then, as reveled on Achievement Hunter Weekly Update #150 here, Rooster Teeth played into the hype and created X-Ray & Vav-themed merchandise. The show itself was first announced in the RTAA panel at RTX 2013 and showed a trailer that was featuring RTAA-styled silhouettes of X-Ray & Vav and the words “coming soon.” In other words, at RTX 2013, the company showed an X-Ray & Vav teaser with the working title Animated Adventurers. Free and Narvaez also made a special appearance at the event in some brightly-colored costumes. They were seen wearing these X-Ray and Vav costumes at the Achievement Hunter panel at RTX 2013. The first indication of an animated show based on X-Ray and Vav was at RTX 2013, during which a brief teaser was shown at the RTAA panel. The show was revealed under the title of Animated Adventurers and differed from the final show significantly, in that the animation bore a heavier resemblance to Jordan's distinctive art style, rather than the more polished cartoon look of the show proper. At the following RTX, RTX 2014, Jordan (who makes the RTAAs) showed some footage of it on the RTAA panel. Also at RTX 2014, a new animated show called X-Ray and Vav was announced, starring Ray Narvaez, Jr. as X-Ray and Gavin Free as Vav. The show ended up having a much-loved “Saturday Morning Cartoon” feeling. The writing/plot was almost entirely driven by inside jokes from AH lore. The show is directed by Lindsay Jones (who also voices Hilda) and Jordan Cwierz, with art direction by Patrick Rodriguez. A trailer was released to YouTube here on November 6, 2014. An article was released on Tube filter the next day on November 7, 2014. it can be found here. The first episode premiered and was released on November 27, 2014.RTX (10 July 2014). "RTX 2014: Mission Complete!". Rooster Teeth. Retrieved 12 July 2014. and was aired every Thursday on the Rooster Teeth website, the previous weeks episode will then be available on YouTube. Season 1 ran for four episodes from November 27, 2014 until December 18, 2014. The intro for season two premiered on March 26, 2015. On April 10, 2015, Narvaez, the main voice actor, announced his departure from Achievement Hunter in favor of and in order to focus on dedicating his time and attention towards full time Twitch livestreaming and officially quit and left on April 17, 2015. However, despite Narvaez's departure from Achievement Hunter in April of that year, he continued to frequently return to the Rooster Teeth offices and recording studios do continue voice work for his character in the series during Season 2 (however, when asked by fans, he said he was "not interested" in returning to voice the character again should they do a third season). The Season 2 trailer had premiered on July 11, 2015 at the San Diego Comic Con. On July 13, 2015, another article on Tubefilter was released about the event. A second season began on 18 July 2015 (you can watch the new intro trailer here, and the Comic Con trailer here). X-Ray and Vav Season 2 initially premiered July 18, 2015, with a total of ten episodes will be released in two batches of five each. Rooster Teeth sponsors get to see the first episodes a day before they’re released to the public on July 19. The second season premiered to the public on July 19, 2015. Narvaez and Free reprised their roles as the show's titular heroes (with Lindsay, Barbara and Gray reprising their roles well), and Season 2 is also bringing on board new characters voiced by Adventure Time’s Jessica DiCicco as news reporter Ash Samaya and Parks & Recreation’s Colton Dunn (who’s also starring in Rooster Teeth’s Lazer Team film), with the addition of Michael Jones as the anti-hero Mogar (also starring in Lazer Team with Coltun and Gavin). Though Season 2 would be longer than Season 1 with a total of ten full episodes, Rooster Teeth has opted to split it in half, with the second season of The Strangerhood (one of the many stretch goals for funding Lazer Team) airing between the first and second halves. After running for another 10 episodes Season 2 officially ended on October 18, 2015, and this is confirmed to be the series finale of the show instead of a season finale as it is extremely doubtful and highly unlikely (with an extremely slim possibility and impossible odds) that there will ever be an X-Ray and Vav Season 3 and that it is instead cancelled, ended, fished and no longer in production. A short video, titled "X-Ray & Vav: Posi-Choices 101 – Short" was released on November 22, 2015. The last, and final short video, titled "The X-Ray & Vav Holiday Special! – Short" was released on December 13, 2015. Episodes Main article: List of episodes Season 1 Season 2 Specials/Short videos Future Before being cancelled, there were initially high hopes and plans for a Season 3, even as early as when Season 2 debuted in the summer of 2015. Rooster Teeth’s Lindsay Jones said at the SDCC panel the company would like to continue X-Ray and Vav beyond season two if fan reception is positive. At the X-Ray and Vav panel at RTX 2015, when they talked about how "interesting and engaging" Season 2 was, Lindsay and Jordan also said "At present, we currently don't have plans for a Season 3 yet or another third season in development production yet, but who knows? You never know!" Because there was so much hype for a third season of X-Ray and Vav, hundreds of ideas for a third season of X-Ray and Vav were published by fans in late fall of 2015 and early winter of 2016. Cancellation and conclusion Season 2 has been described and confirmed as the second and last season in the franchise. Although both seasons of the show did well, after 2 full seasons running with 14 episodes and 4 short, special videos, X-Ray and Vav was not renewed for a third season and was ultimately cancelled.http://bigbite.media/top-10-cancelled-rt-shows/ The rest of the creation, direction, production and the animation team behind the show has moved over to working on Camp Camp. According to the website status, it states that the show is "Retired." When asked by a fan on his Ask fm if he would once again be interested and willing to rejoin the Rooster Teeth team and fully return for another third season (asked, if possible), Ray Narvaez, Jr., the main voice actor for X-Ray, has also expressed his disinterest in continuing his role as the titular character, stating that he wouldn't do it any more and that he was "happy with how it (Season 2) ended". Askfm. (7 June 2016). "if Xray and Vav were to have a 3rd season in production would you still voice Xray?".Ray Narvaez, Jr.. Retrieved 23 June 2016.http://ask.fm/RNarvaezJr/answers/140877319543 When responding to the comments in the chat room on his Twitch streams in early 2016, and when describing the likelihood of starring in another seaon in the series, Narvaez explained, "2 most likely will be the last season. The main problem is cast and crew is always shifting their focus, attention and dedication onto different things from one thing to another, they are always getting busy with working on other projects and stuff that are on Achieveemnt Hunter and Rooster Teeth's top priority list. You can't stop it. There's no way to temporarily stop us from changing and working on something else. As time goes on, all good things must come to an end, sooner or later and new things start. it's all about evolving and changing and turning it into something completely new and different but still driving ahead to make that content interesting and enjoyable so that people really enjoy. You know, that's the problem because the characters are supposed to be involved full time. But I want to focus a lot more on twitch because I really love Twitch streaming far more. And I'm sure those other guys at AH/RT are too busy working on other Achievement Hunter and Rooster Teeth projects as well." At his Q and A panel at RTX 2016, Narvaez responded further, stating: "To be fair, I wasn't planning to do it and acting X-Ray and Vav forever. No matter how interesting and engaging the plot and future of it would be, I mean, just imagine me being a senior and still hanging out at the recording studio. With that being said, we aren't gonna be around here forever. Twitch just suits me better because I like doing my own things and work. I have really fallen completely in love with live streaming on Twitch and being a solo entertainer with my girlfriend Tina and my fanbase. I also really like and feel comfortable with working and collaborating with other solo entertainers who are also independent Twitch streamers, YouTubers and speedrunners. I never really wanted to be a Rooster Teeth voice actor, movie actor, or movie star or crew all that much before, either. So when Lazer Team production and filming rolled around, Michael and Gavin were busy filming and recording. I was offered a role, Matt (H) and Burnie asked me twice and told me that it would be awesome but I said "No". I don't want to be an actor. I woudn't want to be at a Hollywood movie set and be forced to do things, say things and perform things in a certain way especially over and over again because I'm forced to do it by the director's instructions and orders. It's a pain in the ass for me to memorize hundreds of lines from thousands of script pages, get camera lights shining in my face and take hundreds of tries just to get one scene right. I really like and enjoy the fact that I can just stay home all day, play video games for a living in front of a live audience, and say, do and act whatever (anyway) way I want as well as whenever (anytime) and however (anyhow) I want to. I really like playing video games for an audience and with my girlfriend all in the comfort of my own house, which is why 97% of my job was at Achievement Hunter and now as an independent Twitch streamer. I don't want to be an actor, regardless if I'm working with Rooster Teeth or Hollywood. I like doing my own thing. I don't know how Michael and Gavin do it, but somehow, they're doing a really great job at it and I'm proud of them." Cast Main * Ray Narvaez, Jr. as X-Ray * Gavin Free as Vav * Lindsay Jones as Hilda * Barbara Dunkelman as ORF * Patrick Rodriguez as the Mayor * Gray Haddock as Rusty Bonjour * Ryan Haywood as the Mad King * Geoff Ramsey as the Corpirate * Michael Jones as Mogar * Jessica DiCicco as Ash Cameos * Ashley Jenkins and J.J. Castillo as passerbys * Miles Luna and Chris Demarais as robbers * Kdin Jenzen as a henchman * Kerry Shawcross as Dragonface * Colton Dunn as Flynt Coal * Gus Sorola as X-Ray's Mother Production A teaser was shown at RTX 2013 with the title "Animated Adventurers." The upcoming show was confirmed at RTX 2014. Currently, not much is known about the show other than it features a completely different art/animation style (2D animation style) than what Rooster Teeth has done in the past. Trivia *A 30 second promo of the show was shown after the finale of Red vs Blue season 12, and RWBY Volume 2 Episode 9.Youtube (30 September 2014). X-Ray & Vav Teaser Trailer. Blake Shortland. Retrieved 4 October 2014. * In RWBY, characters are sometimes seen reading an X-Ray and Vav comic, with the Achievement Hunter logo in the top corner. * The team name started in the Halo 4 "Terminus" achievement guide, in which Gavin signed in as 'Vav' and then asks Ray if he's ever been called 'X-Ray'. * Most characters in this series are based off the characters their voice actors have previously come up with in previous Achievement Hunter videos, such as The Mad King, or The Corpirate. * The heroes wear similar outfits with different color schemes: the main suit of X-Ray is green, with a white circle containing two green thunderbolts crossing in an X formation on the chest, plus black gloves, boots, cape, and crotch protector, while Vav has blue where the green is, red where the black is, and a V under a bowler hat both in British flag coloration on his chest. Both of their logos inspired Rooster Teeth t-shirts, which depict the logo on a shirt the same color as the respective hero's main outfit. * Some of the character elements are based on prior Rooster Teeth and Achievement Hunter videos: Vav's "Slow-Mo Hands" power is based on Gavin's role in the Slow Mo Guys, Ryan's 'Mad King' character name (and his outfit) are from Achievement Hunter's Let's Play Minecraft series, in which Ryan is often dubbed the "Mad King" (and his Minecraft Skin, Scottish Steve, is the basis for his outfit), and Geoff's character "The Corpirate" is based on his custom character from the Let's Play WWE '13/2K14 video. These continued in Season 2 with the additions of Mogar (Michael's warrior alter ego, also from Minecraft, and with the bear hood sharing the same basis as The Mad King's outfit), Flynt Coal (also of Minecraft origin, but as a recurring joke whenever flint or coal is found), and Dragonface (Kerry, who has it as his main nickname). Only X-Ray, Rusty, Ash, Hilda, ORF, and the randoms don't have a confirmed RT or AH-linked aspect, though X-Ray's name may be due to Ray wearing glasses and X-Ray having a special red-lens pair. References External Links TV TropesCategory:Series Category:Rooster Teeth Productions